Grey Sky
Under a grey sky, in a grey city, in a grey bus sits a boy with a grey expression sitting beside a backpack and sheathed blade labeled Chris C. "Why isn't the sky red like fire, yellow like buttercups, or blue as the blue jays that soar the sky? Out of all colors, why grey?", Chris pondered to himself while leaning his arm on the bus window. In his backpack, is a book that tells stories of a whole new world outside the cities of Isa and Raf on the rest of the island of Faethey. While the grey skyscrapers and grey roads exist around him, Chris hopes for more color in his life without looking back. But in the middle of the concrete and steel of the city, one place always catches Chris' attention, the park in the middle of the city where he can see the green grass, children playing and a marble statue of the goddess, Ljos. Although he wishes to examine further, he's winded from sword training and just wants to relax at home. The bus exits the inner city and into the suburbs, where Chris gets off. Chris strolls through the streets of the suburbs not seeing a soul, hearing not a peep nor pop, aside from a few birds and bugs. Finally reaching his house, he unlocks the front door, hangs his blue jacket and heads up to his room. He hangs his sheathed blade on the wall. He has his schoolwork lying on his chair, which he tosses from the chair and to the bed where his dirty clothes are tucked to the corner, half of it all socks. He turns on the computer to research for his travel plans. He hears a faint slam and someone walking towards his room. His sister opens his bedroom door. Chris casually greets his sister, Christine. Christine greets him back while she jumps and lands her back on the bed. “Ow”, She yelped after she lands on a bunch of books. Chris looked at her and smirked. “You should be studying those you know”, she nagged and handed Chris his books. “Yeah, I got better things to do”, Chris groused and put his books on the floor. “Still putting those plans together, eh?” Chris lets out a reassuring closed-mouth sound. “You do know that many of these places aren’t really Manz-friendly, right?”, she explained. “That’s why I’ve taken so long to put this together, I’m trying to think of how I can explore these places unseen, or at least with no attention drawn to me.” “Are you still sure about this.” “I’m sure”, Chris said unsurely. “How come you left training early?”, Christine asked. “I wasn’t really feeling it.” Christine left the room and closed the door behind her. Chris pondered and planned for a while and then played video games for the remainder of the day. The light shining through the cracks of Chris’s curtains dim. Chris looks outside and not surprised, still grey, but darker. Chris faintly hears the front door shut. Pete, Chris’ and Christine’s father opens Chris’ door. “Hey, Chris. How was your day?”, asked Pete, leaning on the door frame. “Nothing special.” Pete awkwardly stands silent for a few seconds. “We’ll be having Spicy Kous for dinner tonight. Any special requests for toppings?”, Pete asked with forced enthusiasm. “No thanks, just the usual”, Chris replied flatly. Sitting bored in his room, Chris brings his blue jacket with him to go outside. He walks a path he has been familiar with his whole life, exiting the suburbs to an ever stretching, grassy field, filled with small shrubs and saps along with straws and a single sapling that was taller than the others that Chris laid special attention on. Chris walks towards the shore until he stands before a cliff edge. He sits down beside the tall sapling at the cliff edge with nonchalance and comfort, looking down he can see the shore, looking forward he can see the sea, and beyond that, a wall of grey clouds, and if he were to turn his head up, the clouds would stretch until he saw the ground behind him. He sits there for a good while, trying to remember what he wants to do. Looking saddened, and slightly disappointed, he walks back through the field and walks back towards civilization. Pete put down three plates and placed everyone’s piece of Spicy Kous. He calls the twins downs to dinner. Both of them calmly stroll downstairs to the kitchen, where the sight of the dense piece of meat minced up and put back together with added spiced and oils so that it slides right in and with satisfaction along with having the toppings of Rad’ott Cheese, Roasted Elderroots, and Juicy Zuchs. And all that, in between two thick slices of bread. Throughout most of the dinner, they chow down their Spicy Kous in silence, until Pete decides to break the ice. “So, are you coming to the festival tomorrow night?”, Pete asked referring to both of them. “Yeah, I and my friends have decided to go together.”, Christine answers. “Wearing anything special for the occasion?”, Pete asked. “I think my trusty, old, green dress will do me just fine” Christine answered with confidence. “What about you?”, Pete asks as he turns his head towards Chris. “Yeah, sure, I think”, Chris deadpanned and kept eating his Spicy Kous. “Anything to wear?”, Pete asks. “Just the same old shirt and blue jacket”, Chris answered and then he thanked for his meal and left upstairs to his room. After some final plays on the computer, he glances at the books on his floor, with a smidge of remorse, he still heads quietly to bed. After a few roll-arounds, the darkness envelops his vision and he has sunk completely to his bed. He opens his eyes to find himself under the grey sky, in a green and vast field, but no trees or shrubs, only hills, and grass. He walks to the top of the nearest hill and down from there, he sees a glowing white orb that emits a bright white and yellow and the orb has a sort of flow to it, like the tides the orb swerves and dances to itself, under the orb are people looking at it, some of them he recognizes, his sister, even a long-time, friend and an enemy, but there are people there that he’s never even seen, then they all turn their heads towards him and as they do the grass starts to wither around them and it spreads like a wildfire before he could compose himself, he stood in fearful awe, and then the orb fell to the ground, blinding Chris with a screen of white all around him, then it quickly turned dark, and then light, then dark again over and over. He wakes up to find his sister flickering his lights. “You should get up if you want to pass this year”, Christine chided and left the room with the lights on. Looking for socks to wear, he just reaches in his sock drawer and picks two regardless if they’re matching or not. He grabs his blue jacket and the twins walk together towards the bus stop “Did you study anything yesterday?”, Christine inquired. “Nope”, Chris answers without hesitation. “So, it means nothing to question you on these subjects”, Christine huffed. “I know enough to pass”, Chris asserted. Christine took a few seconds to think “Let’s go on a little field trip then, we still got time”, Christine suggested. The bus has arrived and they both board it. Christine asserts herself as being the one in charge of the stop button, for she knows where they’re headed, keeping Chris in the shadows. When the bus entered the inner city, before them was a familiar sight, the Isoan Park, and Christine pressed the stop button. Christine went ahead of Chris while he was drawn to the serene scene of the green grass and animals scavenging for food. Christine went towards the center of the park where there’s a platform, the platform has artwork displaying the legends of the island and a poem has been written around its circumference. On the platform where before them is a statue of a beautiful and radiant woman dressed in white with great hair extending down to her heels, below her stands a sword upright with the blade in a pedestal. “Tell me everything you know about this place”, gibed Christine. “I know this sword his impractical”, Chris remarked. “How so?”, inquired Christine. “Well, there’s a gaping hole in the cross-guard for starters and the blade itself is odd in shape, it extends in and out and has points, it’s hard to explain but no one really wielded this thing, right?”, wondered Chris. “The sword was used to banish Myrk from our land”, Christine clarified. “Is the exam about history or legends, I can’t tell anymore.” “Well, we theorize what happened in history from the legends, it’s the best we got” Chris looks at the statue “Well, this old beacon of hope hasn’t shown herself in centuries, according to legend” “Well, do you at least know the poem written around here that our culture cherishes?” “Something about protecting the land, the Void and such.” “You can read it you know, it’s right beneath your feet, imprinted around the statue.” Chris bowed his head to read the poem and it said: “For the people born on the Goddess’ ground These guidelines you are bound None shall seek the Goddess’ gift Unless you seek to seal the Blight’s rift The Gems that formed our land Are to be put in each race’s hand Be wary of the Blights of Myrk Betrayal, Delusion, Vengeance, Greed, Wrath, and Distrust” Chris looks up with an unimpressed expression and says “Aight” “You’re clearly not paying attention”, Christine remonstrated “Look I get it, ‘Goddess’ ground’ means Faethey, and the Gems are the Mithyar Gems, I don’t remember what they do but that doesn’t matter none of this exists anyway.”, Christian, drained of all excitement, asserted to her sister who seemed just as drained as him, but also a little frustrated. “You know, you’re a real let-down”, Christine she said ticked off. “Hmm?”, Chris mused. “I try to be nice and I drag us out here so we can appreciate the legends of our land, and you’re not acting any different to how you were about a half an hour ago”, Christine scolded. “How was I acting half an hour ago? I wasn’t even awake.”, Chris trying to challenge her and soon realized that she had a big smirk on her face. Chris chuckles a little and says, “Alright, you got me.” They walk out of the park together and head towards their school. “Don’t take any credit if I pass the exam, though”, Chris chimed in. “Not like you did anything to prepare yourself”, Christine quipped. They poked fun at each other and jeered until they arrive at their school and there are already a bunch of kids studying for the exam. They take a seat at one of the tables. Christine goes over her notes while Chris daydreams. More kids flow in one after another until the time when the exam halls open for them. While Christine takes last minute looks at her notes, Chris looks around at the student until he stops to turn his attention at one particular student. He is so tall, he couldn’t stop looking at him even though he wanted to, leaning against the wall, stiff as a board, all alone, minding his own, wooden expression, hair as black as the void, and a ragged red sweater, it’s Andre. “Hey!”, Christine whistles at Chris, “The exam is about to start.” Chris hastily gets his things and follows Christine to the exam hall. Chris looks over his shoulder to find Andre still standing where he stood and in the same pose. Even though to many the silence is louder than any noise, when you don’t care, it’s soothing. Chris’ lackadaisical attitude towards the exam makes him more comfortable than any student should during a final. Looking around the hall, he doesn’t spot any of the key features that describe Andre. Now Chris starts to wonder, be confused, and even worry a little. Christine stands up and hands over her finished the exam and walk ou. Now, Chris starts to check his progress on the exam, looking at it, it’s terrible, but it’ll pass, just barely. The exam hall is nearly empty and Chris hands over his mostly finished exam and strolls out. The school is eerily silent, usually, there are kids running around and making noise, but not when there are finals, then there is but the orderly silence of the respect for your peers’ success. The silence was suddenly broken by footsteps that came from behind Chris. Chris turns around and sees Andre, his tall and wide form is sure to frighten most men, but Chris seemed almost relieved that it was him. “Looking at you makes me miss the good old days”, Andre says with a sinister grin on him. Chris gives Andre a straight face as if he’s not taking him seriously “Go away, man. Go bother someone else.” Chris turns his back to Andre and walks away. “Think you’re tough, huh?”, Andre jeered while following Chris. “I just don’t want any part in your sad excuse of a hobby of punching everything that moves”, Chris provoked. Andre snaps and pushes Chris against the wall “Listen longface, if you don’t stop annoying me…” Andre was interrupted by Chris’ laughter. Andre grabs a tight hold on his sweater “What’s so funny? You wanna die?” “I’m getting a little nostalgic too, I haven’t heard that stupid pet name you gave me in years” Chris chortled “Stupid eh? Let’s see you make up a better one. What’s the best you got?”, Andre provoked. Chris wanted to get him good, he really needed to show him what for. He was aiming at breaking his miserable spirit that he hoped that Andre would never want to see the light of day. Christian smirked “I don’t need to say anything” Andre looks confused “Is that just another way of saying ’I got nothing’?” “Are you blind, or just stupid?” Andre’s not really provoked but doesn’t know how to respond. “You haven’t had friends since you last called me longface, and I bet they were only your friends because they were scared of you” Andre now starts to get annoyed, as as he gets more annoyed, the more confident and zealous Chris gets. “I should feel bad for you, but how can I empathize with my lifelong enemy?” “Hey! I just wanted you to call me a stupid name!” Andre lifted Chris up “You’re ragged old clothes say your father doesn’t work much” Andre starts giving a mean look, like an angry Kous ready to ram into Chris. “You also have this mean smell, it’s a mix of nice perfume and rotting fish, I guess you think body spray is just a shower in a bottle, eh?” Chris’ excitement had now overtaken him and now nothing is off the hook. “Your dad is so deadbeat, not only because his son has amounted to nothing…” Andre hasn’t done anything yet, but he’s fuming. “…but also because your mother never wanted you and left…” A swift hit to the face, like a whole mountain struck Chris’ face, Andre had punched right in Chris’ long face, grabbed him by his hair and lunged his entire body across the school hall. Out of the corner of the hall, Christine came and put up a fighting stance in front of Chris. Looking furiously at Andre, Christine “Stay back, Andre, you know how well I fight!” Andre turned around, “You’ll regret saying that”, and he walked away. Christine helps Chris stand up, “What happened?” “I don’t know, he was just bored and attack me” “Never seen this much vigor in him”, Christine added, “What did you say to him?”, Christine asked “I called him stupid, smelly, and I called his parents deadbeats” “Stupid and smelly? That can’t be it, maybe he’s sensitive about his family life” “Not that I care much, he’s done nothing to earn my sympathy” Christine can’t help but feel a little bad for Andre. “Let’s just go home” Trying to forget what just happened Christine thinks of something that might get Chris in a better mood. “Hey, you’re coming to the Festival tonight, right?”, Christine needled excitedly “Festival?”, Chris needed a second to think, “Oh, the Festival of Ljos” Chris took some time to think about either will he do nothing at home or go out and do something and maybe even have a little bit of fun “Sure, why not”, Chris said “That’s the spirit, you don’t go outside enough”, Christine gibed with her usual big smirk “I do, whaddya mean?”, Chris responded “You only go outside to get to gym and sword practice”, Christine snickered “So what? I’m still active”, Chris muttered Christine kept snickering. Later that evening, Chris put on his fanciest white shirt, blue jacket and pants. He ganders at himself in the mirror for a while, admiring himself, he walks out to see Christine in her flowing green dress. Pete also comes out in his fancy dark teal jacket. Pete drives the siblings out of the suburbs towards the city, the roads are empty at this time because Pete had the idea of going early to get an unobstructed view at the festival. Pete parks in a huge parking lot, there are going to be people coming from Raf City to see this festival, it’s what Isa is famous for. From the parking lot, the three of them walk to Isa Park, where it’s been decorated from all corners and surfaces. There’s already a lot of people there who set up little kiosks, selling ice cream and pancakes to little kids, and others put up tents, chairs, and blankets to relax. Some of the parents are taking their young children to the statue of Ljos and telling them the same legend that has been passed down since time began, even reciting the poem that they stand on. We set up lawn chairs at a good spot near the statue. Christine goes away to get some ice cream while I sit and look around myself. I keep fixating on the statue, her innocent and serene expression with her eyes closed and her hands exposed to invoke a sense of trust and charity. Christine comes back with some ice cream, she even brought me one even though I never asked, I happily ate it. The time struck half past eleven and the Ljosian Archbishop, Ladarxin, walks to the statue. His mere presence was enough to shut everyone up, and everyone’s eyes were locked on him. His white robe drags across the green grass and even though he’s blind he still walks to the platform with such certainty and purpose. Standing in front of the sword, below the statue of Ljos, he gracefully lifts his arms and begins to speak. “Dear people of Isa”, Ladarxin bellowed. “You are fortunate to stand here at this momentous occasion that are both of historical and cultural significance. Every 485 days, we prepare ourselves to bathe in Ljos’ light and pray that our lives will bring everlasting order.” While all the people of Isa City gaze on the archbishop, Christian starts getting a sinking feeling, he looks around himself, as if he already knows what he’s looking for. In the sea of people, one of them sticks out like a rosebud in a thorn bush, it’s Andre. As soon as Chris saw him, he snaps back to look at the archbishop. “Something up?”, Christine wondered. “Oh, just looking around, it’s nothing”, Chris dismissed. Christine looks around a bit, but nothing catches her eye, so she just keeps listening to the archbishop. Ladarxin keeps howling his gospel to the crowd. “From the light of the realm of Ljos, Arisen, it will cleanse all darkness that ail your lives”, the clock then strikes midnight and the archbishop looks in awe behind him. “Gaze forth, fellow children of Ljos and the Mithyar Gems”, he says as the sky opens a small aperture where a bright light shined through. “Every 500 days, people. I never get tired of this.”, he says it as he can see it though his grey dead eyes, “The warmth of Ljos’ embrace fills my spirit with vigor.”, he says softly but then turns to the crowd and calls to everyone watching, “People of Isa, embrace the light, embrace her will, embrace…” The archbishop gets suddenly interrupted by a black explosion that throws him forward off the platform, and the Luminiblade behind him gets thrown off in another direction. The explosion spawns a black and purple sphere that grows to envelop the entire platform and the statue of Ljos. From above comes a ship flying soaring the air, its sails are red as fire, the bow strip was decorated with a red and black bird with an enraged expression. The ship flew with jet engines on the back where the rudder would be. Christian freezes in shock gawking at the ship while Christine and Pete make a run for it. Christine turns her head at Chris and calls to him “What are you doing!?”, she yelled. She runs to him and yells in his face, “What are you doing? Run!” Chris gets will to run away but as he does Andre, seemingly out of nowhere charges at him, but since Chris moved away, Andre merely tripped him over while Andre still had speed left but with lost balance from hitting Chris he stumbles forward into the black mass that had formed in the explosion. “What just…?”, Chris looked at the black orb, Christine , and the ship, breathing heavily, “Was he trying to?”, Chris trips over his own words and just stands in place. “Watch out!”, Christine yelps as pull’s Chris arm away and throws both away. Category:The Faetheyan Promise